Columbus, OH — According to a post on elitloppet.se, the 2020 Elitloppet will be raced without the public in attendance.

The translated story from the website reads as follows:

Elitloppet 2020 will be decided before empty stands. Anyone who has pre-sold tickets is offered a re-book to 2021 or repurchase.

“This is something we have calculated since March 12. We have chosen to wait as long as we have been able to, but now we announce the decision that Elitloppet 2020 will be run without an audience,” says Solvalla’s CEO Jörgen Forsberg.

The spread of the new coronavirus has resulted in laws, regulations and directives that have led Solvalla and the other Swedish trotting tracks to completely shut down their public facilities since March 12. In addition to this, a number of restrictions have been introduced around the stable area and today the trotting tracks are a strict workplace where only persons performing a job have access.

“We, of course, wholeheartedly support the efforts that are made in society to limit the spread of the virus — to keep public places closed and to minimize the number of people in the stable area are parts of this. Today we do not see anything that indicates that conditions would change in a month, and so we are already announcing that the public seats will be closed during Elitloppet weekend 2020,” says Forsberg.

Elitloppet has been held since 1952 and is one of Sweden’s largest folk festivals. Usually, Elitloppet weekend attracts between 40,000 to 50,000 people.

“Elitloppet has the world’s best audience. When guests from all over the world talk about Elitloppet, the audience and the wonderful atmosphere are the first thing they mention. This year it will be a different Elitloppet, which we feel confident in being able to carry out safely. We hope that as many people as possible now will instead take their seats on the TV sofas to follow the exciting competitions as we will offer fantastic fine sports,” concluded Forsberg.

Elitloppet is the main attraction during the weekend, which will be held at Solvalla in Stockholm on May 29-31. Elitloppet is an invitational race where 16 horses compete in two different eliminations with eight horses in each. The top four in each meet in a final where the winner receives 3 million SEK.